The quantum technologies roadmap: a European community view

TLDR

Quantum Technologies have progressed from foundational experiments to applied research across communication, simulation, computation, and sensing, propelled by a coordinated European community that produced a 150‑page roadmap. The article provides an updated summary of this European QT roadmap. The roadmap covers the four QT domains plus cross‑cutting theory, software, and control, outlining current status, challenges, and projected advances over the next decade.

Abstract

Within the last two decades, Quantum Technologies (QT) have made tremendous progress, moving from Noble Prize award-winning experiments on quantum physics into a cross-disciplinary field of applied research. Technologies are being developed now that explicitly address individual quantum states and make use of the 'strange' quantum properties, such as superposition and entanglement. The field comprises four domains: Quantum Communication, Quantum Simulation, Quantum Computation, and Quantum Sensing and Metrology. One success factor for the rapid advancement of QT is a well-aligned global research community with a common understanding of the challenges and goals. In Europe, this community has profited from several coordination projects, which have orchestrated the creation of a 150-page QT Roadmap. This article presents an updated summary of this roadmap. Besides sections on the four domains of QT, we have included sections on Quantum Theory and Software, and on Quantum Control, as both are important areas of research that cut across all four domains. Each section, after a short introduction to the domain, gives an overview on its current status and main challenges and then describes the advances in science and technology foreseen for the next ten years and beyond.